


Same

by yeaka



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, M/M, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:00:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21812572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: The Enterprise keeps fighting regular robots.
Relationships: Pavel Chekov/Hikaru Sulu
Comments: 8
Kudos: 28





	Same

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Trek or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

They’re both quiet during their journey off the bridge, packed into the turbolift with Uhura and Kyle, all four of them heading to their respective quarters after a long and trying alpha shift. There’s still a subtle feeling of tension in the very air itself. The corridors seem cold, the officers walking quicker than usual through them, eager not to be caught out alone. Hikaru half wonders if Pavel can feel it too. 

Maybe Pavel doesn’t have human intuition, but he certainly has plenty of other human features. As soon as the two of them are in their quarters, the door squarely shut behind them, Pavel grumbles, “Again. _Again_. How many times are tinbots like that going to think they can owercome our keptain?”

Hikaru just shrugs. He makes his way to his bunk and kicks his boots under it, debating whether or not he could just plop down and sleep. It should feel too early, but it doesn’t—he’s _exhausted_ and sweaty. He really needs a shower. Pavel rants, “It is ridiculous! Those blundering robots didn’t stand a chance against us! Can you believe they actually tried to tie up the engines like that? As if Meester Scott would not notice!”

Hikaru grunts noncommittally. He didn’t enjoy being nearly incinerated by a group of rogue androids either, especially because Pavel’s right—it’s nowhere near the first time the Enterprise has had to deal with artificial foes. But he’s always hesitant to trash robotic beings _too_ much around Pavel, even though Pavel never seems to draw any parallels. He hisses, “They were not fit to fly. Their programming was clearly faulty. It was like they could not even think for themselves! No free will at all! Just... serwing a single goal... a single master... not like...” He trails off. Hikaru strips out of his gold tunic, tossing it aimlessly across his bed. 

Pavel quietly finishes: “You do not wish I was like that, do you?”

Hikaru pauses. Down to his black undershirt and matching pants, he turns to ask, “What?”

Pavel’s looking right at him, still fully dressed. “A lot of people on the Enterprise do not ewen know I am an android, I am so human. But... do you ewer wish I was more...” He gestures vaguely, fishing for words just like any biological being that couldn’t process the entire Federation Standard dictionary at the speed of light. “Subserwient?”

Suddenly, Hikaru understands the real reason for Pavel’s fury—not just loyalty and dismay, but self-doubt and inevitable comparisons. Pavel might be the most sophisticated android Hikaru’s ever seen, but he still bleeds engine oil when scratched deep enough. As far as Hikaru’s concerned, Pavel’s nothing like the mindless automatons that just tried to overtake them. 

Their friendship runs deep enough that Hikaru can pinpoint all the small, unique little details that make Pavel _himself_. Hikaru asks, teasing but meaningful, “I don’t know. Would you still have all those fanciful Russian tales?”

“Of course,” Pavel insists, brow furrowing as though unable to imagine a world where his whole thought process _didn’t_ revolve around Mother Russia. “I would still hawe been manufactured there; nowhere else could achieve such perfection.” He pulls himself up as he says it, hands slotting onto his hips, chest slightly puffing up—filling with the usual confidence his homeland always gives him. It makes Hikaru grin, because that’s the Pavel he loves. 

He chuckles and strolls over to peck Pavel’s cheek, deciding: “I like you just the way you are.”

Pavel grins proudly, as though there never was any question. There really wasn’t. Hikaru lingers a few extra seconds anyway, just in case his favourite android needs more moral support.

But Pavel seems to be fully functional again, so Hikaru chirps, “Alright, I call first dibs in the shower.”

Pavel counters, “You know I don’t require showers.”

“Great, I automatically win then.”

Pavel’s grin grows as Hikaru stalks past him, human and stinky.


End file.
